what if i "decided" that my context as a person, as a human being, now is/could be?
buddhism and cloth
is this possible ? what exactly do i mean by this?
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37 responses to “rhetorical thoughts ……. still about context”
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Grace – I was not sure how to share this with you, but I thought you may appreciate the video clip. It is very powerful.
http://www.alzquilts.org/
I came upon it on this blog: http://bayouquilts.blogspot.com/
Her post on July 1st. for AAQI…I want to go home…really touched a nerve.
Love the texture of the stitches on the left blue on white. What a canvas… a groundcloth for your self-discoveries. I wonder where this will lead for you.LikeLike
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grace…being the shallow right brainer that i am, i don’t understand what you are driving at…but i did try, even asked my college girl-with-art history-religion majors….but i just confused her, which i am good at…
i do understand becoming one with the cloth, i put a lot of myself into my cloths.LikeLike
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Vicky…i’ll work on making some words for it all.
that’s why i said it was rhetorical…it’s like not even
formed, really yet. just “coming on”.
but i DO, really appreciate your comment here…to know
that someone is out there wondering with me? a comfort.LikeLike
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you are very welcome. on another subject, send me your snail mail and i will send you a starry guy…
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don’t know…where it will lead.
thank you for the links. i am really two minded about
all the alzheimer’s stuff. it is what it is. and
when you are in the midst of it, there is no where to go
for “home”. but in the moment, that’s why i am of the
mind that as we go along, we need…like NEED to do
our “homework”. what ever that might be. but each of us
i think gets glimmers, clues. we need to stretch
ourselves, continuously. never stopping.
i think, and maybe this is not at all true, but i think
that if we find ourselves ever at a point when we feel
like we have learned everything anyone needs to know…
it’s a true Y in the crossroad. to go in the direction
of where we have not been yet…that’s where i would
choose….
xoxoLikeLike
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i was very thankful that my mom ‘only’ had dementia. she may have had the short memory of a gnat, but she knew where she was, who she was, etc.
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i know you aren’t expecting an answer and you aren’t sure of even the question… but i think yes… buddhism and cloth… you have a buddhist perspective…even more than i do since you have studied formally. and you bring this to the cloth because it is your life. your story. so you put it into cloth. as vicky said becoming one with the cloth. as i see it, you become one with your art in whatever form it takes. for example, the cloth for wendy’s kids. you gave them part of you. that is (buddhist) spirit filled. i think there are two (at least) contexts that we can speak of here. one is context in the elements of design and the other is the context of your story. does this make any sense to you? i wish i could make it a clear as i understand it… sometimes i am not the best with words.
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For me context is what creates meaning. If buddhism and cloth are what gives your life meaning, then yes it could be your context…certainly something to think about.
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Yes, my daughter and I talk about learning lessons so as to not have to relearn them at some later time. I’m not sure I’m so good at that, but I do Try to learn, stretch, grow…and I think that focus of paying attention and trying is important.
As for the alzheimer’s information, this is not something that has touched my life personally, so my knowledge is Very limited. But when the video opens with the sheer numbers and all of those signatures… my heart just breaks for those families.
And when she says on her blog that they wander up and ask to go home…again I find that heartbreaking and such a comment on humanity…that even when so much else is lost to someone…they still at that very basic human level search. That is what is so poignant to me. You can take away so many factors…and facets of someone’s personality…and deep inside there lies there humanity, their true needs as a human being.
Reminds me of this song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHzMGM9qyZw&feature=related
Based on a true story of her husbands grandparents, it is, again, that very basic human need, that need for love…a home for the heart if you will.
Boy- I don’t know if I am making sense…just went all mushy like and rambling on. This is the kind of stuff that really gets me though.LikeLike
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i am not exactly sure what you mean by this, but i am sure that i really like it, that it is a really strong piece as it is, or as a beginning. love seeing both sides of the cloth (story?) in the reversed nine-patch. and i could look forever at those six patches on the top right. something about the colors, the earthiness, the whole being broken up & put together in a new way…can we change our stories by rearranging the pieces? i like that thought, i’m going to think on it some more…oox
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well, my input is about the same. i think that you cannot separate the buddhism from the cloth or the person. we are the whole and it comes out in the cloth. probably why we are all so drawn to jude’s work. her words match her cloth.
me, i’m still working on it too. i studied meditation for many years through a guru and did the whole india thing. i am not there now, but it is still part of me.
i too am making nine patches. haven’t had time to post. working too many days. but found that i was waiting for the diaries to start and just thought, my god, i know how to sew.
i have made 4 woven 9 patches. i love them.
great thoughts from all and hello to all since i don’t have time to go anywhere else..LikeLike
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grace–hopefully this doesn’t sound totally arrogant—
but i think at least PART of your context IS buddhist/cloth–
just because thats such a part of who i understand you to be —
so that ANYTHING that comes out of you passes thru this place —
& in that respect its not a matter of deciding —
it just IS—
about the deciding part—
well—-maybe you focus on it in a way that becomes more of a guide than it already is—??—-
the cloth is so beautiful—
& its really interesting that the edges aren’t all ragged…..LikeLike
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This is a real beauty Grace. I love the inside/outside nature of it…for some reason I want to say ‘like a release from prison’…
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there is a ring of truth here, in all you do, and I think that is it.
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i like the question posed – ie that of one’s context as a human being, I am not sure I have really ever given that much thought – much thought and work on identity but context is entirely different … thank you Grace for this food for my be-ing
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i think beliefs do define us and then sometimes contain us. i try to be very careful about that. but i suppose we need to know what you do mean by this.
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Sometimes the only way to say something clearly is to make it
into something other than words, I believe. Your cloth here is enough. And elegant, strong and beautiful.LikeLike
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i don’t know yet…just the concept of context is
maybe different than i’d always “boxed” it as. but those
arcing stitches on the Universe cloth caused a very
sudden change in this thinking.
and really…the continued energy of the questioning
came from looking around and realizing that whether or
not i think one thing or another, in a year probably, my
“context” of this Place, of the identity i have created
as part of this Place, Will change and CAN….once again…
become very different. same components, sort of, but
actually carry with it, ONLY buddhism and cloth making.
it was actually a very exhilarating moment, to think of
that… of setting out with just me, a little napsack of
cloth with my love of buddhist thinking inside of it.
….like the card of The Fool in tarot.
maybe this is what i am thinking about? 3 of “us”.
Buddhism, Clothmaking, me. and of the 3, which is/are
the context, which the central uhhhhh, the operational
entity?
oh lord.
hurry up and Whisper. left to my own devices too long.LikeLike
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As the connections of Buddhism and cloth have been mentioned, I like to mention “kesa”: it is a kind of blanket, and the most typical part of Buddhist dress. It does not imitate the human form. It is unchanged since 6th century. Some of the old kesa are made from small scraps of cloth which had been given to the monks or really found in the streets. According to Buddhist texts, soiled and discarded scraps were most appropriate for the making of kesa. (However most kesa are attractively composed from colourful silk scraps which were not likely to have been collected from waste heaps). Kesa have a columnar format (like the rows of plants in a rice field?)I sew a kesa years ago..oh my goodness I am really trying to give a lecture – sorry! But I think kesa resembles very much the way and the means of our work.So there is a real connection to Buddhism.
evaLikeLike
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grace. omg by gosh i love everything, the very being of this
cloth. it is stunningly beautiful.LikeLike
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This was very interesting. Thank you.
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oh grace as I was reading this..I was wondering what to wear ..I’m telling the odyssey in a mine tunnel..in the dark
looking at the pictures..it came..yes!the cloth you sent..it is coming with me into the dark
and I think I know what it will becomeLikeLike
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Vicky…a starry guy….smile, smile, smile ~
grace Forrest~Maestas
NBU 16
Polvadera, New Mexico 87828
xoxoxoLikeLike
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nance…whatever it is about this
context
thing
i can’t quite “see” yet. so am thinking to just
watch it, just let it rest and appear on it’s own terms.
and, about the cloths for Wendy’s kids…the part that
was so wonderful to me about that is that the cloths were
in existence and CHOSEN … that something i’d already
made was in keeping with something seen on that end….
that was my most favorite thing of a lifetimeLikeLike
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yes…and when i speak of buddhism, that would include
all levels of Being….garden, birds, wind on and onLikeLike
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“change our stories by rearranging the pieces?”
it’s just a different way to see THE story??????
oox backLikeLike
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“my god, i know how to sew”
it’s just so wonder full, isn’t it…….
big smileLikeLike
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this cloth can be anything and/or Everything. am really
really looking forward to whatever happens.
and again…it’s not a cloth that i imagine to be
“finished”, it might become anything over the years…LikeLike
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Suzanna…you say the most AMAZING things….i love how
you thinkLikeLike
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i was telling someone about you yesterday and heard
my voice so full of animation and loveLikeLike
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Jill….there’s some kind of difference, isn’t there…
it’s still not clearLikeLike
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Patty…YES….!!!! and that’s what cloth gives me…
a way to go toward something i don’t know yetLikeLike
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Eva, yes! and not a lecture, but sharing a thought
and some knowing.
and yes! “the way and the means of our work”
xoxoLikeLike
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Cristina….i can’t wait to hang it outside
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THIS IS BEYOND BEYOND BEYOND exciting………………..
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I have no learning in buddhism, I have no way to know with out reading or hearing about it from someone that does know and to learn from this perspective in the way that you put it into your cloth may teach others the profoundness of your meaning because we can see it in your stitches we read it in your words and feel it in the texture of your cloth. I think beliefs can define us but I like to think that I am not completely contained in them. What I mean is that I am open to hear and learn new things and then my story cloth will change.. and I think that is the evolution of its creation over time some things will be consistent but I think that many things can change. We don’t always know what .. so i think like my heart .. I want my cloth to be open to the what ifs.. to the possibilities… something about your words Grace .. move me. I love seeing your story in stitches too!
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these are very great thoughts/words, Tammy. i mention
buddhism because my love of its Way is so great. and
you are right…what matters is what appears in how we live, what we make.
thank you for your words here. they are like a
beautiful bowl that received mine. nice.LikeLike
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